CBE—Life Sciences Education Vol. 14, 1–13, Fall 2015
Essay College Students’ Views of Work–Life Balance in STEM Research Careers: Addressing Negative Preconceptions Anna Tan-Wilson and Nancy Stamp Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University–SUNY, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 Submitted November 20, 2014; Revised April 22, 2015; Accepted April 22, 2015 Monitoring Editor: Alison Gammie
In career discussions, female undergraduates said that if they were to attend graduate school in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and were to follow a career based on their research training, they would have to give up having a family. A subsequent survey showed that many students, both men and women, thought work–life balance would be more difficult to achieve in a STEM research path than in other professions they were considering. Their views of STEM research being less family-friendly were more pronounced on issues of parental leaves and caring for children than finding a spouse/partner and landing two jobs in the same locality. To provide role models of work–life balance in STEM professions, we convened panels of dual-career couples who described how they worked together to raise their children while advancing their scientific careers. Our selection of panelists and topics of discussion were based on findings of social science research on work–life balance. On a survey with the same questions administered afterward, the changes in paired responses of male and female students with respect to all four issues showed a significant shift toward thinking that a research-based STEM career would be no more difficult than other careers they were considering. INTRODUCTION Given today’s reliance on science and technology in almost all sectors of the world economy and the need to solve serious global problems, the low percentage (24%) of U.S. college graduates who earned degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 27th in the developed world, is alarming (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, 2010). To illustrate the deficit, in 2011, when the level of U.S. unemployment was relatively high, with 3.6 unemployed people for every job posting, there were twice as many job postings for STEM skills as there were unemployed people CBE Life Sci Educ September 2, 2015 14:es5 DOI:10.1187/cbe.14-11-0210 Address correspondence to: Anna Tan-Wilson (annatan@binghamton .edu). © 2015 A. Tan-Wilson and N. Stamp. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®”and “The American Society for Cell Biology ®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology.
(Change the Equation, 2011). Exacerbating the problem is the fact, documented just recently, that only 26% of college students who graduate with STEM degrees are employed in STEM occupations (Landivar, 2013b; U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Assuming the trend continues, based on the count of students earning bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering in 2012 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013), that means ∼200,000 STEM college graduates per year will not end up in STEM occupations (using the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of STEM degrees and occupations). Understanding and addressing reasons why students who succeeded in obtaining a STEM degree move on to occupations outside the field will help mitigate the current and worsening shortage of STEM workers in the United States. For the past four years, our institution has conducted a program with STEM undergraduates doing interdisciplinary research on problems relating to the life sciences. Because these students performed exceptionally well in their academic and research work, we hoped they would choose to attend graduate school in STEM and, from that base of advanced research training, proceed to diverse careers in academia, government, or industry. Their graduate-level research training could lead them into scientific/engineering research in academia, government, or industry; or their training could be applied toward
14:es5, 1 Supplemental Material can be found at: http://www.lifescied.org/content/suppl/2015/07/01/14.3.es5.DC1.html
Downloaded from http://www.lifescied.org/ by guest on November 13, 2015
A. Tan-Wilson and N. Stamp
commercialization of research, bioethics, public policy, or science writing (Fuhrmann et al., 2011; D’Ecclessis, 2013; Turk-Bicakci et al., 2014; Columbia University Center for Career Education, 2015). Thus, knowing that part of the solution to the STEM shortage is to increase diversity among students in STEM fields (Landivar, 2013a; National Girls Collaborative Project, 2013), we listened very carefully when, in discussions about career choices, the women pursuing majors in engineering, computer science, and the physical sciences voiced serious concern about being able to manage family along with a career in a STEM profession.
Multiple Aspects of Work–Life Balance The students’ concerns that they would not be able to raise a family while also developing a career based on graduate training in STEM fields are addressed in social science research as one aspect of work–life balance. Besides their roles at work, individuals are also sons and daughters, siblings, friends, members of social organizations, and eventually spouses/partners and then parents, with the relative importance of these work and nonwork roles changing and varying in importance through the life stages (Demerouti et al., 2012). For instance, the importance of social life and hobbies may give way to family responsibilities as a person commits to a life partner and the couple has children. Research recognizes that work and personal life domains can impact one another in positive and negative ways (Carlson et al., 2000, 2006; Grawitch et al., 2010). For instance, individuals experience conflict when aspects of work such as stressful relationships with managers or coworkers or long unpredictable work hours make it difficult to manage family time; or when caring for family reduces efficiency at work. Enrichment results when fulfillment at work (e.g., self-esteem, financial security) and transfer of skills, behaviors, and perspectives at work help a person be a better family member; or when the need to attend to family provides workers with focus and sense of urgency that result in greater efficiency at work. Work–life balance is thus defined as feeling effective and satisfied in both work and personal life domains (Greenhaus and Allen, 2011). Individuals try to minimize or manage conflicts between work and nonwork, and to maximize the benefits that spill over from work to nonwork and vice versa (Kalliath and Brough, 2008). As individuals’ roles in the work force and in the family change with time, different aspects of work–life balance take priority.
Work–Life Balance Gender Differences Research shows that, today, work–life balance is an issue for both men and women (Parker and Wang, 2013); however, studies show that conflicts and rewards associated with dual roles of men and women at work and in the family are different (Rothbard, 2001). Work-to-family enrichment, spillover of positive experiences at work that lead to a richer family life, was found to be significant for men but not for women. Family-to-work enrichment, when a fulfilling experience as a family member spills over to work, was significant for women but not for men. Women are more likely than men to adjust their work—modifying work schedules, taking parttime work, choosing less demanding work, shifting careers, or turning down opportunities for career advancement— to accommodate family commitments (Adema, 2013).
These differences are ascribed to men and women having internalized divergent societal expectations, that men have primary responsibility for work and women have primary responsibility for the family (Rothbard, 2001), resulting in women still carrying the larger share of housework and child care even when they have full-time employment (Miranda, 2011; Parker and Wang, 2013). Gender differences regarding balancing work and family were already apparent in college students even though the students were not married, had no children, and did not have full-time employment. In that study, 39% of the women, compared with only 7% of the men, estimated below-median work commitment along with above-median family commitment (Friedman and Weissbrod, 2005). Men and women also differed in their timing with regard to their thoughts about marriage and parenting; men were more likely than women to have not yet given thought to these issues, and women more likely than men to have already made decisions as to whether they would marry and have children.
Importance of Work–Life Balance to the Millennial Generation Traditional college students today belong to the Millennial generation. Millennials, compared with Boomers and Gen-X, tend to place more value on jobs that “leave a lot of time for other things in life” (Twenge et al., 2010). That study was based on surveys of STEM workers taken when they were still attending high school and showed that Millennials’ desire for better work–life balance starts long before they consider having children. In part of a worldwide survey of Millennials (National Chamber Foundation, 2012), it was evident that members of this group were willing to work hard but also wanted work–life balance. For residents from Canada and the United States, the top answer to the question “If you could prioritize your life, what would you emphasize?” was “To spend time with my family,” with 56–60% making this choice compared with 35% choosing “To have a successful career.” “To be able to have time to enjoy my hobbies” and “To have many good friends” were selected by
Essay College Students’ Views of Work–Life Balance in STEM Research Careers: Addressing Negative Preconceptions Anna Tan-Wilson and Nancy Stamp Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University–SUNY, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 Submitted November 20, 2014; Revised April 22, 2015; Accepted April 22, 2015 Monitoring Editor: Alison Gammie
In career discussions, female undergraduates said that if they were to attend graduate school in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and were to follow a career based on their research training, they would have to give up having a family. A subsequent survey showed that many students, both men and women, thought work–life balance would be more difficult to achieve in a STEM research path than in other professions they were considering. Their views of STEM research being less family-friendly were more pronounced on issues of parental leaves and caring for children than finding a spouse/partner and landing two jobs in the same locality. To provide role models of work–life balance in STEM professions, we convened panels of dual-career couples who described how they worked together to raise their children while advancing their scientific careers. Our selection of panelists and topics of discussion were based on findings of social science research on work–life balance. On a survey with the same questions administered afterward, the changes in paired responses of male and female students with respect to all four issues showed a significant shift toward thinking that a research-based STEM career would be no more difficult than other careers they were considering. INTRODUCTION Given today’s reliance on science and technology in almost all sectors of the world economy and the need to solve serious global problems, the low percentage (24%) of U.S. college graduates who earned degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 27th in the developed world, is alarming (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, 2010). To illustrate the deficit, in 2011, when the level of U.S. unemployment was relatively high, with 3.6 unemployed people for every job posting, there were twice as many job postings for STEM skills as there were unemployed people CBE Life Sci Educ September 2, 2015 14:es5 DOI:10.1187/cbe.14-11-0210 Address correspondence to: Anna Tan-Wilson (annatan@binghamton .edu). © 2015 A. Tan-Wilson and N. Stamp. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®”and “The American Society for Cell Biology ®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology.
(Change the Equation, 2011). Exacerbating the problem is the fact, documented just recently, that only 26% of college students who graduate with STEM degrees are employed in STEM occupations (Landivar, 2013b; U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Assuming the trend continues, based on the count of students earning bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering in 2012 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013), that means ∼200,000 STEM college graduates per year will not end up in STEM occupations (using the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of STEM degrees and occupations). Understanding and addressing reasons why students who succeeded in obtaining a STEM degree move on to occupations outside the field will help mitigate the current and worsening shortage of STEM workers in the United States. For the past four years, our institution has conducted a program with STEM undergraduates doing interdisciplinary research on problems relating to the life sciences. Because these students performed exceptionally well in their academic and research work, we hoped they would choose to attend graduate school in STEM and, from that base of advanced research training, proceed to diverse careers in academia, government, or industry. Their graduate-level research training could lead them into scientific/engineering research in academia, government, or industry; or their training could be applied toward
14:es5, 1 Supplemental Material can be found at: http://www.lifescied.org/content/suppl/2015/07/01/14.3.es5.DC1.html
Downloaded from http://www.lifescied.org/ by guest on November 13, 2015
A. Tan-Wilson and N. Stamp
commercialization of research, bioethics, public policy, or science writing (Fuhrmann et al., 2011; D’Ecclessis, 2013; Turk-Bicakci et al., 2014; Columbia University Center for Career Education, 2015). Thus, knowing that part of the solution to the STEM shortage is to increase diversity among students in STEM fields (Landivar, 2013a; National Girls Collaborative Project, 2013), we listened very carefully when, in discussions about career choices, the women pursuing majors in engineering, computer science, and the physical sciences voiced serious concern about being able to manage family along with a career in a STEM profession.
Multiple Aspects of Work–Life Balance The students’ concerns that they would not be able to raise a family while also developing a career based on graduate training in STEM fields are addressed in social science research as one aspect of work–life balance. Besides their roles at work, individuals are also sons and daughters, siblings, friends, members of social organizations, and eventually spouses/partners and then parents, with the relative importance of these work and nonwork roles changing and varying in importance through the life stages (Demerouti et al., 2012). For instance, the importance of social life and hobbies may give way to family responsibilities as a person commits to a life partner and the couple has children. Research recognizes that work and personal life domains can impact one another in positive and negative ways (Carlson et al., 2000, 2006; Grawitch et al., 2010). For instance, individuals experience conflict when aspects of work such as stressful relationships with managers or coworkers or long unpredictable work hours make it difficult to manage family time; or when caring for family reduces efficiency at work. Enrichment results when fulfillment at work (e.g., self-esteem, financial security) and transfer of skills, behaviors, and perspectives at work help a person be a better family member; or when the need to attend to family provides workers with focus and sense of urgency that result in greater efficiency at work. Work–life balance is thus defined as feeling effective and satisfied in both work and personal life domains (Greenhaus and Allen, 2011). Individuals try to minimize or manage conflicts between work and nonwork, and to maximize the benefits that spill over from work to nonwork and vice versa (Kalliath and Brough, 2008). As individuals’ roles in the work force and in the family change with time, different aspects of work–life balance take priority.
Work–Life Balance Gender Differences Research shows that, today, work–life balance is an issue for both men and women (Parker and Wang, 2013); however, studies show that conflicts and rewards associated with dual roles of men and women at work and in the family are different (Rothbard, 2001). Work-to-family enrichment, spillover of positive experiences at work that lead to a richer family life, was found to be significant for men but not for women. Family-to-work enrichment, when a fulfilling experience as a family member spills over to work, was significant for women but not for men. Women are more likely than men to adjust their work—modifying work schedules, taking parttime work, choosing less demanding work, shifting careers, or turning down opportunities for career advancement— to accommodate family commitments (Adema, 2013).
These differences are ascribed to men and women having internalized divergent societal expectations, that men have primary responsibility for work and women have primary responsibility for the family (Rothbard, 2001), resulting in women still carrying the larger share of housework and child care even when they have full-time employment (Miranda, 2011; Parker and Wang, 2013). Gender differences regarding balancing work and family were already apparent in college students even though the students were not married, had no children, and did not have full-time employment. In that study, 39% of the women, compared with only 7% of the men, estimated below-median work commitment along with above-median family commitment (Friedman and Weissbrod, 2005). Men and women also differed in their timing with regard to their thoughts about marriage and parenting; men were more likely than women to have not yet given thought to these issues, and women more likely than men to have already made decisions as to whether they would marry and have children.
Importance of Work–Life Balance to the Millennial Generation Traditional college students today belong to the Millennial generation. Millennials, compared with Boomers and Gen-X, tend to place more value on jobs that “leave a lot of time for other things in life” (Twenge et al., 2010). That study was based on surveys of STEM workers taken when they were still attending high school and showed that Millennials’ desire for better work–life balance starts long before they consider having children. In part of a worldwide survey of Millennials (National Chamber Foundation, 2012), it was evident that members of this group were willing to work hard but also wanted work–life balance. For residents from Canada and the United States, the top answer to the question “If you could prioritize your life, what would you emphasize?” was “To spend time with my family,” with 56–60% making this choice compared with 35% choosing “To have a successful career.” “To be able to have time to enjoy my hobbies” and “To have many good friends” were selected by
